Nba Finals

Enter the Clippers Brian Schmitz Orlando Sentinel You don't follow the bouncing ball any more in the NBA; you follow the bouncing stars. Free-agentpalooza, with the A-listers calling the shots, has produced instant contenders and revived the dead. We give you the Heat and the Clippers. The Heat's Big Three will join the Bulls in the East finals, and the Mavericks and Clippers will meet in the West finals. Yes, the Clippers. David Stern's decision to send Chris Paul to the other L.A. team has turned the West on its ear. By the end of the season, the once-downtrodden Clips will pass the Lakers.

Wade, Heat will prevail Steve Svekis Sun Sentinel It's a best-of-three series now, and the Heat own home-court advantage. With that being the case, Dwyane Wade will take home his second championship and Finals MVP trophies. Despite LeBron James' putrid offensive production down the stretch during this series (2.3 points per fourth quarter), the Heat still have been in position to win each game. If James remains in hibernation, there is a chance the Heat could drop another game at home, and Dirk Nowitzki could get revenge for his 2006 failings against the Heat.

On Tuesday night, LeBron James sealed the Heat's Game 1 win in the NBA Finals with a thundering slam dunk against the Mavericks . It was a fine highlight for James, but talk to me when he makes a play good enough to get included in a Lego recreation of  the greatest plays in NBA Finals history .

James will lift Heat Shandel Richardson Sun Sentinel The Heat lost the regular-season series to the Celtics. They responded by eliminating the Celtics in five games. The Heat were swept by the Bulls in the regular season but came back to defeat the Bulls in the Eastern Conference finals in five games. The Mavericks also owned the Heat in the regular season, so expect the trend to continue. The Heat will take care of the Mavs in five games to defeat them for the second time in the NBA Finals.

Heat vs. Mavericks Shandel Richardson Sun Sentinel Even after Sunday's meltdown, the Heat still have to be considered the favorite to win the NBA title. They eventually will solve the riddle that is the Bulls and take care of business in the Eastern Conference finals. There won't be too many nights in which LeBron James and Dwyane Wade are held under 20 points. In the West, the Mavericks are playing as well as any team in the league. These aren't the Mavs of the past, all scoring and nothing else.

Not since Michael Jordan's final championship has an NBA game drawn a bigger audience than last week's seventh game of the Lakers-Celtics series. The Nielsen Co. said Tuesday that 28.2 million people watched Kobe Bryant's Lakers win their second straight NBA Finals. Except for the Olympics, Nielsen said Thursday's game was the most-watched show on network TV in the summer since the finale of the first "Survivor" season in August 2000. •Lakers center Andrew Bynum's injured right knee has been drained for the third time in recent weeks, and he will have surgery next month.

News item: The NFL and the players union discussed the possibility of lengthening the regular season to 18 games during labor negotiations this week, but Ravens star Ray Lewis and Patriots quarterback Tom Brady both expressed concern about the negative impact that might have on the overall health of the players. My take: I think they're right to be concerned, but the NFL clearly cares more about the positive impact it would have on industry revenues. In other words, are you ready for some extra football?

Lakers smell blood Ira Winderman Sun Sentinel The Lakers' constant this postseason is they have delivered their best game only when cornered. There was no finer example than Game 6 on Tuesday night. The desperation should be similar Thursday, especially against a wounded opponent, with a limited Kendrick Perkins far more debilitating for the Celtics than a limited Andrew Bynum is for the Lakers. It's not as if rotating around a hobbled Bynum is anything new for Phil Jackson.

LOS ANGELES — It'll be a memorable night for the Lakers, for better or worse. If they beat the Celtics Thursday at the Staples Center, Kobe Bryant collects a fifth championship ring, tying Magic Johnson and moving within one of Michael Jordan. The Lakers' 73rd win of the season would earn a 16th championship trophy, one fewer than Boston, and take some sting out of their painful Finals loss two years ago to the Celtics. If Pau Gasol can dominate down low without Kendrick Perkins there to clog the lane, coach Phil Jackson can pick up an 11th championship and something else he has never done — a Game 7 victory in the NBA Finals.

BOSTON — It's the best of times and the worst of times, one more time. If the Lakers-Celtics wars of the 1980s seem as far removed as the Pleistocene Era, the teams are once more at each others' throats as if it's the last time, which it may be. In the salary cap era, it's hard to get any two teams to the NBA Finals. It does help if one has Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. It's not clear what the odds are with Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce, ages 34, 34 and 32, respectively.